[reply to Kahlessa's post about Soft Science of Dietary Fat]
Heart disease is not common everywhere:
[from The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell, PhD. Refers to Jolliffe N, and Archer M. “Statistical associations between international coronary heart disease rates and certain environmental factors” J. Chronic Dis. 9 (1959): 636-652.]
Cholesterol levels have been much higher in affluent communities than in isolated agrarian communities. For example, cholesterol levels averaged 127 mg/dl in 1980s rural China, but 215 mg/dl in the United States. Higher cholesterol levels have been associated with higher heart disease death rates:
[from Heal Your Heart, by K. Lance Gould, MD]
Some of the cholesterol in your blood comes from eating foods that contain cholesterol. But, most of the cholesterol is made by your liver. When you eat more saturated fats and animal protein, your liver will produce more cholesterol.
In the United States, people consume 34-38% of calories from fat. But, in 1980s rural China people consumed 14.5% of calories from fat.
The Lifestyle Heart Trial demonstrated that heart disease can be reversed with a 10%-of-calories-from-fat whole foods vegetarian diet along with smoking cessation, moderate exercise and stress reduction. [Ornish D, Brown SE, Scherwitz LW, et al. Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary atherosclerosis? The Lifestyle Heart Trial. The Lancet. 1990; 336: 129-133. Gould KL, Ornish D, Scherwitz L, et al. Changes in myocardial perfusion abnormalities by positron emission tomography after long-term, intense risk factor modification. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1995; 274: 894-901. Ornish D, Scherwitz L, Billings J, et al. Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary heart disease Five-year follow-up of the Lifestyle Heart Trial. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1998; 280: 2001-2007.]
The small decreases in fat consumption recommended by the United States Government and the American Heart Association do not go far enough to prevent heart disease in very many people.
Dean Ornish, MD writes: “Robert Royall is a fifty-three-year-old priest with severe coronary heart disease. His cholesterol level levels are elevated primarily because of a condition known as familial combined hypercholesterolemia.
“In November 1986, he had a coronary angiogram (cardiac catheterization that revealed a 37 percent blockage in one of the main coronary arteries (known as the left anterior descending artery) that supplies the front of the heart with blood (see figure 1.1). At that time, I invited him to enroll in our research project.
“He had a prior commitment to move to South Carolina and lead a church congregation there, so he declined. He followed his doctors’ advice and began to reduce the amount of fat and cholesterol in his diet from 40 to 30 percent (less red mead, chicken with the skin removed, fewer eggs) and began exercising more. He did not smoke. His cholesterol decreased from 390 to 360.
“After a while, though, the frequency of his chest pains began to increase. In November 1987, he returned for another angiogram. The test revealed that the 37 percent blockage had dramatically worsened to 77 percent (see figure 1.2).
“Because of this evidence that his disease was worsening, he volunteered for our study and was randomly assigned to the group making comprehensive lifestyle changes. He followed the program described in this book, and his cholesterol level decreased from 360 to about 250--a large reduction, but his blood level was still much too high, I thought. I was tempted to prescribe cholesterol-lowering drugs for him, but we decided to wait until his next angiogram since he seemed to be improving in so many other ways: he had lost fifty-five pounds, he had only rare chest pain, and he’d opened up emotionally to the other group members in ways that were sometimes startling.
“After one year in our program, we repeated his angiogram again. This time, the 77 percent blockage had reversed to only 59 percent, and blood flow through that artery increased by 270 percent. (see figure 1.3)”
[from Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease]
Dietary fat is associated with more than just heart disease.
[from The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell, PhD. Refers to Carroll KK, Braden LM, Bell JA, et al. “Fat and cancer.” Cancer 58 (1986): 1818-1825]
Coronary heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, breast cancer, leukemia, childhood brain cancer, stomach cancer and liver cancer rates were much lower in rural China. There is more about this in The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell, PhD.